This invention is directed to educational apparatus and, more particularly, to programmable educational apparatus.
Various types of educational apparatus and devices have been proposed for use by students. Such apparatus varies from simple mechanical arrangements to sophisticated electromechanical apparatus. In simple arrangements, often, a box or housing includes a plurality of apertures adapted to receive blocks of different geometric configurations, one block being associated with each aperture. Sophisticated electromechanical apparatus, on the other hand, often use cathode ray tube displays, and the like, connected to program sources that automatically display questions of a relatively complicated nature; and request the student to select the correct answer from a number of answers; or indicate whether a statement is true or false. Thus, in the past, educational apparatus has, on the one hand, been relatively uncomplicated and, on the other hand, been relatively sophisticated. The uncomplicated apparatus has generally required continuous instructor supervision, particularly when utilized by relatively young children or persons with low mental capacity. The more sophisticated devices have been designed to require minimal instructor supervision; however they usually require relatively high levels of mental capability--at least the ability to read words or numbers, or the ability to understand detailed questions. To date, there have been few proposals for devices that integrate the programmability of the relatively sophisticated systems with the uncomplicated nature of the less sophisticated arrangements in order to provide educational apparatus that has the capability of educating persons of low mental capability, without requiring continuous supervision by an instructor.
In addition, in the past, in general, education devices have had very limited ability to automatically reward a student upon the successful completion of a task and, thereby, encourage the student to tackle the next task. In most cases, the reward has been a simple visual reward indicating the successful solution of a problem or completion of a task. For example, the word "correct" may flash on a screen or a light may be lit if the correct answer is given. In many instances, particularly when retarded persons are being educated, a visual reward is inadequate to encourage the student to tackle the next problem. Such persons normally require a more concrete reward, i.e., food or drink.
Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide new and improved educational apparatus.
It is a further object of this invention to provide educational apparatus that is programmable and particularily suitable for use in instructing students how to perform relatively uncomplicated tasks.
It is another object of this invention to provide an educational reinforcement apparatus that can be programmed to reward a student in a variety of ways upon the successful completion of one or more tasks.
It a still further object of this invention to provide a relatively uncomplicated and, therefore, inexpensive educational reinforcement apparatus that is programmable and, thus, suitable for widespread use, particularly by persons of low mental capability.